It takes Italian luthier Roberto Cavagnoli three days to find the perfect piece of wood for his latest creation. The maker of stringed instruments is crafting a new cello, as commissioned by Jurlique co-founder turned arts patron Ulrike Klein, and designed to exactingly replicate an 18th century piece by his lauded compatriot Giovanni Battista Guadagnini that she has gifted to cellist Sharon Draper of the Adelaide-based Australian String Quartet. Cavagnoli’s passion and rigour floats across the screen, whether he’s scouring a forest for the perfect tree or toiling away solo in his workshop. While Highly Strung only dedicates part of its running time to his endeavours, it’s this affection, determination and dedication that Australian filmmaker Scott Hicks wishes to capture and even to copy as he explores the catgut-ruled side of classical music.
Extreme, coursing-through-your-veins-type enthusiasm certainly isn’t lacking in the writer/director’s return to the music world, following his early work with INXS, the Oscar-winning biopic Shine and more recent factual portrait Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts. Nor are other aspects borrowed from his chosen field of focus, with the film split into movements, scored by a chamber music soundtrack, fluidly shot by Hicks also working as his own cinematographer, and fleetly spliced together by editors Scott Gray (Dead Europe) and Sean Lahiff (Wolf Creek 2). Indeed, if Highly Strung was a classical piece itself, it’d adhere to the formal requirements, but overflow with competing ideas. Hicks is a craftsman stimulated by his topic, and by the fervour of those he speaks with; however his on-screen symphony might just be trying to corral, combine and intertwine too many moving elements.
Accordingly, a film bookended by and ostensibly about ASQ’s new 2013 line-up — with new violinists Kristian Winther and Ioana Tache joining Draper and existing violist Stephen King, stunning the Australian music scene with their whirlwind courtship and marriage, and then trying to bring their own perspectives to the group — canvasses much more, often jarringly so. Highly Strung never suffers from quiet lulls or from a lack of information, talking-head interviewees or tangents, as a diversion to New York to meet the well-to-do, Stradivarius-selling Carpenter siblings (this part is going to be called ‘Keeping Up with the Carpenters’”, one remarks) makes plain. And yet, it remains both purposeful in its ardour for everything that intrigues and fascinates by classical music played on stringed instruments, and erratic in flitting between its wealth of material.
Still, like the melodic clash that can spring from two musicians playing different parts, much about Hicks’ documentary sustains interest beyond the obvious musical hunger that drives it. Or, perhaps more accurately, the questions it inspires continue to resonate long after the conversations have faded, the notes stopped vibrating and the sun-dappled final performance comes to an end. How is music influenced by its makers, their instruments and their creators in turn?, Highly Strung ponders. It continues: Where does the artistry reside? Can the economic and creative sides truly come together? And can a centuries-old practice ever successfully evolve to modern times?
Of course, exploring each of these lines of thought is a formidable task, and one that — given the complexity of the topics at hand — can’t always be finessed into a neat package. Probing from behind the camera, Hicks often receives diplomatic answers and evasive responses, a reflection that truly getting to the heart of the many matters at hand is far from an easy or orderly process. In that way, Highly Strung resembles its subject perhaps more than the filmmaker ever could’ve hoped. Even when motivated by obsession, achieving precision isn’t always possible, as ASQ’s plight demonstrates. Correspondingly, the feature that arises from their efforts accomplishes its quest in parts, but those small successes form part of a sprawling whole.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Highly Strung
Director: Scott Hicks
Australia, 2015, 90 mins
Release date: 19 May 2016
Distributor: Sharmill
Rated: M
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